Yotes stop resilient Lights

The Montana State University-Northern Lights started fast in their final game of the 2017 Frontier Conference season. Ultimately though, the Lights couldn’t keep up with the College of Idaho Yotes — the hottest team at the end of the Frontier season.

Saturday in Caldwell, Idaho, the Yotes brought a long season for Northern to an end with a 45-22 win at Simplot Stadium. The win meant the Yotes finished with their first winning season since joining the Frontier four years ago, while the Lights fell to 0-10 in league play and 1-10 for the season.

But even though the Lights have been through a lot this season, they gave it their all in their last shot at a Frontier victory. Northern answered C of I’s opening score with a Tommy Wilson touchdown pass to Marvin Williams, and later, Wilson hit Williams again for an 84-yard score. Tommy Langley would end the first half by booting a 42-yard field goal, which helped the Lights go into halftime trailing just 28-16.

In the end however, C of I’s red-hot offense was just too much. The Yotes piled up 596 yards of total offense, with backup quarterback Tyler Cox throwing for over 300 and rushing for 123 more. In the second half, the Yotes scored 17 unanswered points to put the game out of reach before Wilson added a 17-yard TD to Caymus Thomas.

MSU-N put together a strong showing offensively. The Lights tallied 411 yards of offense, 23 first downs and threw for 340 yards. Wilson led the way with 276 yards and three touchdowns, while Bryce Missey and Dylan Cook combined to complete four passes.

Wilson also led the Lights on the ground with 44 yards, while Cook added 20. Williams had a huge game with five catches for 157 yards and two scores, while Beau Wilhelm, Sam Mix, Kitrell Willingham and Fotios Jordanoglou all caught three passes each.

But as well as Northern played offensively, the Lights couldn't quite catch the Yotes, who finished in a tie for second place in the final Frontier standings. Cox accounted for five total touchdowns, while Wes Fitzpatrick caught four balls for 115 yards.

Defensively, Northern was led by 13 tackles from freshman Jaren Maki, while Garet Fowler and Devariej Criss each had 10 and Steven Fernandez and Dakota Schelling combined for 18 more. Andrew Morgan also had a sack.

College of Idaho 45, Lights 22

MSU-Northern 6 10 0 6 — 22

C of I 14 14 3 14 — 45

1st Quarter

CI — Fitzpatrick 34 pass from Cox (Mitchell Kick)

MSU-N — Williams 13 pass from Wilson (Kick failed)

CI — Crafton 15 pass from Cox (Mitchell kick)

2nd Quarter

MSU — Williams 85 pass from Wilson (Langley kick)

CI — Hurby 52 pass from Cox (Mitchell kick)

CI — Lyons 72 punt return (Mitchell kick)

MSU-N — Langley 41 field goal

3rd Quarter

CI — Mitchell 22 field goal

4th Quarter

CI — Calzaretta 4 run (Mitchell kick)

CI — Robinson 31 pass from Cox (Mitchell kick)

MSU — Thomas 17 pass from Wilson (Kick failed)

INDIVIDUAL

RUSHING — MSU-N, Bryce Missey 5-24, Tommy Wilson 8-44, Trey Blanchard 10-18, Dylan Cook 6-20, B.J. Peters 8-13; CI, Tyler Cox 15-123, Nick Calzaretta 17-67, Dominic Garzoli 6-35, Keenan Patwell 1-16, Connor Richardson 2-11.

PASSING — MSU-N, Tommy Wilson 17-28-276-3-0, Bryce Missey 3-7-43-0-1, Dylan Cook 1-2-21-0-0; CI, Tyler Cox 19-23-320-4-0.

RECEIVING — MSU-N, Marvin Williams 5-157, Beau Wilhelm 2-42, Sam Mix 3-32, Kitrell Willingham 3-30, Fotios Jordanoglou 3-26, Trey Blanchard 1-21, Bryce Bumgardner 1-8, B.J. Peters 2-7; CI, Wes Fitzpatrick 4-115, Shayne Robinson 5-80, Ben Hurby 2-54, Dominic Garzoli 2-27, Keegan Crafton 3-24, Keenan Pattwell 1-8, Kalei Aukai 1-6, Charlie Shepherd 1-6.

TACKLES — MSU-N, Jaren Maki 13, Garet Fowler 10, Devariej Criss 10, Steven Fernandez 9, Dakota Schelling 9; CI, Hunter Temple 9, Nik Lyons 8, Nate Moore 5.

Frontier Conference Standings

Final

Conf. All

W-L W-L

Southern Oregon 10-0 10-0

Montana Tech 6-4 6-4

College of Idaho 6-4 6-5

Rocky Mountain 6-4 6-5

Carroll College 4-6 4-6

Eastern Oregon 4-6 4-6

UM-Western 4-6 4-7

MSU-Northern 0-10 1-10

Saturday, Nov. 11

College of Idaho 45, MSU-Northern 22

Rocky Mountain 48, UM-Western 42

Southern Oregon 24, Montana Tech 10

Eastern Oregon 41, Carroll College 34, OT